I'm Audrey Just Audrey
by ForgeandGred7
Summary: Only a muggle, Audrey believes that she doesn't quite belong in her husbands' family. Her brother-in-law Ron, (no stranger to feeling left out) is there to convince her that being "just Audrey" is just fine.


Audrey Weasley crossed the backyard of The Burrow. She strolled past the small pond that the kids swum in during the Summer, past the Orchid where Fred had been buried and where the family played their annual Quidditch matches. She walked on and on until she reached the tree swing that Arthur had put in when Victoire had been a little girl.

Audrey sat down on it, pushing off from the ground and swaying back and forth. She sighed heavily to herself, glad to escape the confines of The Burrow. She loved the Weasleys', she really did but sometimes -and especially when they had big family gatherings such as tonight- it just became too much for her to handle.

Particularly with what had happened only a few minutes before. Lucy, her youngest daughter..Well, the youngest Weasley to be precise, had performed accidental magic. That meant she was a witch, and that might have seemed like a good thing for some but not to Audrey. The rest of Lucy's family had been thrilled to pieces but not Audrey, for she was a muggle. A muggle in an entire family of magical beings. Lucy had been Audrey's last hope.

Secretly and perhaps selfishly, Audrey had prayed that Lucy took after her in that way but alas, no such luck. Audrey chewed her bottom lip as her eyes watered. "Stop being so silly," she scolded herself, "it's-"

"Audrey?" Audrey came to a sharp halt in her swinging and looked over her shoulder.

"Ron?" she asked, leaping off the swing and landing neatly on her feet.

Ron smirked as she came and joined his side. "Much more coordinated than your husband."

Audrey snorted. "What do you want, Ron?"

"We were just wondering where you were," Ron mumbled, "everyone was worried."

"Were they?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "We noticed you had vanished after Lucy blew that door off its hinges- Hey!" he cried suddenly, "good about Lucy, isn't it?"

Audrey felt a tear slide down her cheek. "Mhm," she agreed. "It's great."

"Yeah it is," Ron chuckled. "I was worried that she wasn't going to be witch for a while there. She wasn't showing any signs of magic and.. Are you crying? Why are you crying?"

"I'm fine," she told him.

"Are you sure?" Ron questioned. "You don't look fine. Are you upset?"

"Of course I'm upset, you twit!" Audrey snapped.

"Oh, I thought so," Ron said. "What's wrong? Do you want me to go find someone for you to talk to?"

Audrey shook her head. Her brother-in-law was very sweet but he could be quite dim sometimes. "No," she said shortly.

"Do you want to talk to me about it?" Ron questioned, looking uncomfortable.

"Only if you care to know," Audrey shrugged.

Ron debated this. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear about it if it was some girly, female problem that he might find totally humiliating but then again, he liked Audrey and he was worried about her. She did seem terribly upset. "OK," he nodded finally.

"I'm thinking about leaving Percy," Audrey mumbled.

Scratch that. Ron HAD liked Audrey. "You what?!" he snarled, glaring at her.

Audrey took a step back at the anger in his eyes. "It's-just-I can't-" she stammered and took a deep breath. "I think it would be better if I just left."

"For who?" Ron's question caught her off-guard. He looked genuinely curious to know who it would benefit if Audrey wasn't there.

"Everyone," she murmured.

"Audrey," Ron said, "why are you being like this?"

"I don't know," she said, and with a miserable sigh she flopped down onto the sofa grass. "I just think Percy deserves someone better, you know?"

"Like?" Ron prompted.

"Like..." Audrey thought for a moment, "Penelope?" she suggested.

Ron rolled his eyes. "She...Well...No," he said, "she was too much like him. Always following rules and such."

"Yes," Audrey mused, "but she was a witch."

Ron stared at her, an expression of understanding crossing over his features. "What?" he asked.

"She was a witch!" Audrey spat. "You're a wizard! Percy is a wizard! My daughters are witches! All of my in-laws are magical!"

"That is true," Ron said slowly, "but what's your point?"

"MY point," Audrey exhaled, "is that you're all somebody, aren't you? Harry saved the bloody world, Hermione is probably the smartest person alive, Molly destroyed the baddest witch of all time. Hell, even Teddy is famous just because of what his parents did. You're all magical. And who am I?"

"Audrey."

"I know and that's the problem," she admitted. "You've all done something and what have I done? Nothing, that's what. I'm just a muggle."

Ron stared at her for a long time before sitting down beside her. "Just a muggle?" he repeated in disbelief. "Don't be so stupid."

"Pardon?" Audrey asked then sighed. "Forget it, Ron. I know you won't understand. You actually belong to this family."

"Oh, I think you'll find I understand better than you think," Ron mumbled. "Do you really think you don't belong?"

"Sometimes," Audrey blushed.

"You're a pretty smart woman, Audrey," Ron told her, "but that is the stupidest thing you've ever said. You're so much more than just a muggle."

"You're just saying that."

"I'm not," Ron said, "you've done a lot for this family, Audrey."

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Audrey asked skeptically.

"Percy," Ron said simply and Audrey giggled.

"I've done Percy?" she asked.

"No..Well yes...I mean-" Ron trailed off, turning red. "That was not something I needed to think about," he cringed.

"You said it!" Audrey protested.

"I know but I didn't mean it like that," Ron smiled. "I just meant...Audrey, you know the story of how Percy left, right?"

"Yes," she said with a slight jerk of her head.

"Well see, when he came back and apologized, almost immediately after, F-Fred was killed," Audrey allowed Ron a minute of silence because even after all these years, it was still hard for him and the other Weasleys' to talk about Fred. "Anyway," Ron went on, "Percy never quite forgave himself for it. He felt like he was entirely to blame. He left the family, he made the joke that distracted Fred, he was the traitor, those were all his words. Nobody, not even George blamed him. He just had it in his head that he murdered our brother."

"Oh Percy," Audrey said sadly.

"After that Percy just stopped caring," Ron mumbled, "about himself, that is. He went to work and he took care of us but that was all he did. He didn't sleep and he barely ate anything, only just enough to keep him on his feet."

"I bet that didn't please your mother."

"It didn't," Ron said miserably. "It was awful. He was drifting between reality and fantasy. He was alive but he wasn't living. Two years after the war, Bill and Fleur had just had Victoire, and even George was starting to heal. He had begun dating Angelina and it seemed like we were all moving on. All except for Percy. It was as if when Fred died, Percy went too and left a shell sitting in his place. He didn't talk about work, he wasn't bossy or a prat..He just wasn't Percy. The guilt was literally eating him up."

"Why are you telling me this?" Audrey asked.

"Because," Ron said, "I think you need to know. A few weeks after the birth of Victoire, we were having a family dinner, even Charlie was there. Percy was late and naturally Mum started to worry but then he came through the door and all of us noticed it at once."

"Noticed what?" Audrey said, curiously.

"His smile," Ron told her. "It wasn't a forced or a fake smile. He was actually grinning almost from ear to ear. He laughed and ate with the rest of us and he was genuinely so happy that Mum was nearly in tears with joy. Finally, when Bill asked him why he was so cheerful, Percy turned bright red and mumbled your name under his breath."

"Me?" Audrey blinked.

"Yeah," Ron nodded, "and slowly, Percy started to come back to us. He wasn't the old stuck-up Percy nor was he the depressed Percy that had felt the aftermath of losing Fred. He was a new Percy. A Weasley. That's why, before any of us actually met you, we liked you. I mean, Mum even liked you quicker than she liked Fleur, and you know how well they get along now!"

"Almost too well," Audrey put in.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "I'm a lot like Percy in some ways, as much as younger me would hate to admit that. We both know how it feels to not belong in this family. We've both left the people we've cared about it when it's gotten too hard for us but we always come back, and you know why?"

"No."

"Because the people in there," he pointed towards the messy, untidy house behind him, "are people worth coming back for."

Audrey smiled at him. "They are."

"So don't go, Audrey," Ron said. "You may think you're just a muggle but you're so much more. We love you because of who you are. You brought Percy back to us when nobody else could get through to him. You've given a lot to this family. You're the only one who can answer Dad's questions about muggles and besides, what other muggle can say that they've got a place on the Weasley clock, hm?"

"That's true," Audrey mused.

"My family will adopt just about anyone," Ron said, "but it takes a special kind of person to become apart of it. To become a Weasley, I should say."

"You're right, Ron," Audrey sighed, "of course you're right. I don't know what I was thinking." She hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

"Er-" Ron coughed and patted her back awkwardly, "that's OK."

She grinned as she pulled away. "I didn't know you were so profound either," she said.

"I'll have you know," Ron said, puffing out his chest, "my emotional range has grown into the size of a ladle, thank you very much."

"What?" Audrey snorted with laughter.

"Never mind," he smirked.

Audrey's giggling was cut short as a quiet voice spoke from behind them. "Audrey? Ron? What are you doing out here?"

Ron got to his feet. "Ah," he said, "here's the man of the hour."

Percy stared between his brother and his wife. "Am I missing something?" he frowned.

Ron shrugged, clapped a hand to Percy's shoulder and said, "I'll leave you two to chat."

Audrey held out her hands as Ron wandered off and Percy grabbed them before pulling her to her feet. "Is everything OK?" he asked.

"Fine," Audrey said softly. "Perce?"

"Mhm?"

"Would," she sighed. "Would you ever change anything about me?"

Percy blinked and titled his head to one side. Audrey giggled. He always reminded her of an animal when he did that, such as a confused puppy or a curious owl. It was adorable, really. "No," he said finally.

"Really?" Audrey asked. "Nothing?"

"Really," he nodded with so much conviction that she couldn't doubt him. "I'd change nothing at all."

"Good," she said.

"What about you?" he asked, looking concerned. "What would you change about me?"

Audrey looked him over. There was a lot she could say, such as the fact that he was magical for one. Or maybe that he cared about work just a little bit too much or even that his speeches could be so long and boring that she honestly couldn't remember half the stuff he said to her sometimes.

However, Audrey found she didn't want to change those things. She liked that he was magical and that he was a hard-worker. She liked that he could easily talk her to sleep and most of all, she liked that he adored her for she was. So why couldn't she do the same for him?

She smiled. "Not a thing, my love," she told him and kissed his cheek

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on," he said "Mum's been waiting for you to come back. She's made a cake to celebrate Lucy being a witch."

"She made it that quickly?" Audrey asked in surprise.

"She's a fast worker," he said, "and also has a wand."

"Ah yes," Audrey chuckled, "how on earth could I forget?"

"I don't know," he replied. "You've been married to me long enough."

"Forever couldn't be long enough," Audrey said to which he coughed.

"Would you like some crackers with that cheese?" he asked, smirking at her.

She whacked him in the stomach. "I miss the days where you couldn't make jokes," she grunted.

"I miss the days where you didn't punch me," he groaned, clutching his stomach.

"Wimp."

"Bitch."

Laughing, the pair made their way hand in hand over to Ron who was waiting for them, and together, they left the cold air and darkness of the night and back into the warmth and light of The Burrow.


End file.
